


To the End

by marimoes



Series: Promptober 2019 [24]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Canon Compliant, Luffy Is Pirate King, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-04 12:09:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21197426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marimoes/pseuds/marimoes
Summary: Time has made it’s mark on the Strawhats, just as they have made their mark on the world. With Luffy as the new Pirate King, everything should be settled, but there is still one thing that Zoro can’t figure out.





	To the End

**Author's Note:**

> Day 24: Grey
> 
> This one...oof.

“It’s grey.” Zoro says, poking a hard finger into Luffy’s head, and gets a swatting hand as an answer, “You’re old.” 

“Zoro’s old!” Luffy refutes and sticks out a tongue before turning his collar up. It’s a poor attempt to hide the edge of his hair, but it helps a little. Until Zoro tugs it back down. 

The patch of grey is small and is spread like it was sprinkled into his scalp. It’s new for Luffy, the eternally young, and Zoro is grateful his hair won’t turn grey. At least, he doesn’t think it will. 

But it looks good on Luffy; makes him look like the man that he is now. 

“Your baby face couldn’t last forever, Captain.” Zoro sighs and rests his hands behind his head. The sun is starting to set, and the ship is busy being loaded for the next departure. It’s not like there is much more in the world for them to see, but it’s Luffy, and he wants to see it all. 

Luffy readjusts his coat, letting the collar fall back down into place, and looks over to Zoro. His first mate stands unbothered, but not unaged. Time has treated Zoro well since they first met at Shells Town, and here, next to him at the edge of the Earth does Luffy realize how lucky he is. The demon of the East Blue held captive within his care. 

Though, it’s not really captivity if he wanted to stay, right? 

“Where are we headed off to anyways?” Zoro asks and Luffy simply responds with a laugh, “Ah, we don’t know.” 

“Of course not!” Luffy says with eager hands curling around the railing, “Where’s the fun in that? You should know better by now.” 

Zoro grumbles leaning against the rail, and watches Luffy take in the sight of the sea. With gleaming eyes, the sea reflects within them and Zoro knows it’s a view that he will never tire of. In all these years next to him, nothing brings Zoro back to that first night quite like departure. 

“So,” Zoro starts and Luffy’s attention is drawn all at once, “You still against it?” 

Luffy’s face twists in confusion for a moment. A soft hum of consideration before his mind catches up to the question Zoro asked. Zoro knows the moment he does catch up, because the same frown is back, and Zoro tsks. 

“Why not?” 

“Because!” Luffy grumbles, turning to lean next to him, “It’s weird when you say it.” 

“King?” Zoro asks but knows the answer even without Luffy’s low groan. Ever since they made it to Raftel, since Luffy became the next King of the Pirates, he’s been forbidden from calling him such. A concept that Zoro can’t get through his head, considering how often he heard his captain scream his mission all those years. 

He lets others. The media, hell, the rest of the crew, but never Zoro. And because it’s Luffy, he refuses to explain it. Instead he just flits off somewhere or grumbles until Zoro drops it. 

But tonight, Zoro wants answers. 

“You are, though. You’re the King of the Pirates, right?” Zoro asks and Luffy nods cautiously, “The papers print it. Chopper says it daily. Why not me?” 

Luffy’s eyes lose their shine then. The sun is setting faster now and as the darkness pulls over them like a blanket, they’re anything but comfortable. Yells from below signal that they’re ready to set off, but Luffy doesn’t move. 

He doesn’t speak walking closer to Zoro, stopping no more than a few inches from his face. Their noses almost touch as Luffy hovers before him, with eyes level in their stare. Zoro nearly breaks the tension by pointing out that he stretched upwards just to meet his height. 

But now isn’t the time for that, it seems. 

“Zoro’s different.” Luffy states and Zoro breathes out an irritated sigh, “What? You are. You know it.” 

Zoro’s hands curl into the edges of Luffy’s coat and draw him even closer. Though his eye is long scarred and healed, it’s in these moments he wishes he had both of them again. To stare at Luffy with the intensity that he receives in times like this—he’d kill for it. 

“You’re my king, Monkey D. Luffy, and there is nothing you can do about it. For as long as I live I’ve dedicated my life to be by your side, and the least you can do is let me.” Zoro says, voice with no hint of uncertainty, and Luffy stares back at him with a similar resolve. Hands softening in their grip, Zoro lowers Luffy back down to his usual height. “Do you really prefer me to call you Captain?” 

Luffy seems to consider it for a fraction of a second before he’s back in Zoro’s face again, “_No_.” 

“Then what’s the hold up? Do you think Roger and Rayleigh argued over this?” Zoro asks and watches Luffy swallow at the question, “Do you think I’m not up to p-”

“STOP.” Luffy yells, and the force of the word shakes Zoro’s earrings, “That’s not it and you know it. It’s just...different.” 

Zoro blinks, once, twice, before his captain takes another breath and backs away from his face. There is something that Luffy won’t say, and he likely never will given his track record. That’s fine, for now, but it won’t stop Zoro. 

“Milord!” Brook calls from the steps and Franky laughs behind him, “Ah, sorry Luffy-san, I still can’t do it.” 

Luffy shoots a pointed look over to Zoro, and he shrugs in innocence. 

“We’re ready to set off. On your word.” Franky says lugging another full barrel of cola over his shoulder, “Sunny’s all stocked.” 

Zoro leans back against the railing out of the way, and watches as the crew makes the final adjustments. Time might have passed, but things haven’t changed all that much. It all feels the same like this. Almost as if they’re still trying to find Raftel. 

Luffy walks back to Zoro, mouth still a flat line, and Zoro lifts up an arm. Without speaking, Luffy falls back into the open spot. Both staring ahead, they don’t speak as the ship takes off out of the harbor, and Zoro tightens his arm around Luffy’s shoulder when he doesn’t move. 

“Don’t you want to be in your spot, Captain?” Zoro asks, and with his free hand pokes another patch of grey hair on Luffy’s head, “Or are you too old for that?” 

Luffy turns then, pressing up on his toes, and stretches to meet Zoro’s eyeline once more. The ship shakes beneath them as it flies through the air, and the sounds of the crew around them grow louder. The past and present blend together, woven together with a heavy thread called fate itself, and time is almost palpable between them. 

“If I’m king, what would that make Zoro?” Luffy murmurs and kisses his first mate’s cheek. 

Zoro opens his mouth, but closes it, unsure of his response. He’s always been his captain’s first mate, this much hasn’t changed, but what does it make him to a king? A knight? An advisor? Is this what Luffy’s struggled with all this time?

“What about,” Zoro hums and hovers over Luffy’s lips, “Your lionheart?” 

Quickly, Luffy’s lips press against his with a laugh mixed into a sigh, and Zoro returns it eagerly. Several times over do they kiss before the boat falls back into the ocean, and the force separates them. With a gentle hand, Zoro removes Luffy from his body and backs up a step, leaving Luffy to tilt his head in question. 

Slowly, Zoro kneels, hand over his heart with a bowed head, and Luffy can’t seem to move. 

“Finally, I can say that I will follow you, my Captain.” Zoro says, tone low, and looks up with a tear clinging to his eye, “To the end, my King.” 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: @noswordstyle  
Twitter: @__moes__


End file.
